Global Citizen Festival 2016: Music and Men Unite for Charity

Thousands of people from all over the world and from within India are right now wallowing in the wonderful experience of seeing some of the most amazing musicians and celebrities at MMRDA Grounds (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority), Mumbai. And why wouldn’t they, it is the festival of the year with headliners like Demi Lovato, Jay Z, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and the masterminds of the event – Coldplay.

Your mood automatically lifted with just the mention of their name, didn’t it? Well they have that kind of effect. How else do you describe the wonderful band from Britain formed in 1996? The lead singer, Chris Martin, is the one whose genius brainchild is the Global Citizen Festival that is now in its fourth year of running. Back in 2012, Chris wanted to touch lives in a different way from what he has been doing as a musician. So in an awe worthy moment, he announced the Global Citizen festival that looks at eradicating poverty and aligns its goals with that of United Nations Organization’s Sustainable Development Goals. So Chris, along with his band mates Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion, joined hands with Global Poverty Project and aimed to raise funds to eliminate poverty by 2030.

In 2012, the big names of The Foo Fighters and John Legend came together to make it a starry night. The next year saw Alicia Keys and Stevie Wonder wondered the crowd. 2014 came with another dose of Alicia Keys along with Jay Z, Beyonce, The Roots, Sting and many more. Last year it was Ariana Grande, Beyoncé again, Ed Sheeran together with noted names like Hugh Jackman, Leonardo Di Caprio and the First Lady of United States, Michelle Obama.

This year, 2016 saw twice the entertainment with the first part being held on September 24th at Central Park, New York with headliners of Demi Lovato, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Major Lazer and Metallica as well as special guest list of Usher, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Ellie Goulding and more. The second serving is going on today at Mumbai with names that will make you go aaaah and ooooh. So take a look at the line up for the coolest concert India has ever had.

global citizen line up

While Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor opened the event, Arjit Singh and Shankar Ehsaan Loy set the mood with their sensational music. The special performance by Monali Thakur and the dazzling vocals of Sonakshi Sinha for the song “Har Kisi Ko Nahi Milta” sent the crowd in a frenzy.

parineeti and arjun global citizen festival sonakshi sinha global citizen festival  global citizen monali thakur

Next came the stupendous performance of Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar followed by Karan Johar and Sonam Kapoor talking about need of the hour issues. Then it was back to Alia Bhatt who announced Demi Lovato, the singing sensation, onto the stage.

sonam3 demi lovato global citizen  Karan Johar Global Citizenalia bhatt global citizen festival farhan and amitabh at global citizen festival

It is surely seems like a great start to the concert and the momentum and merriment will only pick up with a huge 90-minute finale from the band of bands – Coldplay. But before we get caught up in the euphoria, let us appreciate for a moment what the festival is trying to achieve here. And to that end, Chris Martin, along with Sachin Tendulkar, visited 120 students at the Shri Gadge Maharaja Vidyalay School yesterday to spread awareness about sanitation, better education, etc. The event is so dedicated to be an accelerator of change that almost 80% of the tickets were given free to people who were involved in genuine charitable causes and supported the event by watching the videos on the website. The rest of the tickets were marked anywhere from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 2,500, all of which will go towards the better goals of the society. Looks like the fun way to a fantastic future!

Coldplay global citizen festival

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